2014 Kia Soul: won't start

Filed Jun 16, 2025 · Engine · NY

In 2023 I had my car repaired at a Kia dealership due to the federal safety agency Recall Number: 19V120, KIA Customer Care Case Number: [XXX]. It mentioned in recall that the engines may need to be replaced. Even though the engine had made grinding noises when I brought the vehicle in for repair on that recall, the Kia dealership told me my engine did not need to be replaced. However, on [XXX] as I was driving, the car began making loud grinding noises, the check engine & oil light came on and white smoke was coming out of the back. I immediately pulled into a gas station & shut the engine off. After waiting several minutes, I tried to restart the engine and it would not start. The battery had gotten weak. I got a jumpstart from a customer at the gas station, and when the engine turned over a large cloud of white smoke came out of the back, so I turned it off again and called for roadside assistance who towed the car to my home. I had the vehicle towed to a local garage on 6/14/2025. I believe this engine failure is part of the ongoing issues with defective Kia engines. And also stems from the issues from the recall mentioned above because when I took the car to the service center for that recall, it was vibrating and making a lot of noise at that time, and I believe damage had already started to happen to the engine. I contacted Kia 6/16/2025 and they claimed that I was out of warranty and that everything would be out of my pocket, but I think this engine should be covered under all the recalls and the class action lawsuits because it’s a safety hazard when your car shuts down in the middle of a highway. I never received any letters from Kia except when I contacted them about the federal safety agency Recall Number: 19V120. The case number for that issue is Case Number: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) Vehicle is at local garage.

Filed Jun 16, 2023 · Brakes, Engine · VA

I was driving the speed limit of 60 mph and all of a sudden it sputtered and hesitated; stalling out while attempting to accelerate going lower speed. My vehicle luckily got a parking spot at an automotive repair shop. No warning signal illuminated during my driving incident. The next morning the engine wouldn't start, but eventually they get it to start. They got the "Check Engine Message Center Warning" showing during Road Test. The automotive repair shop did a diagnostic test on it saying that the technician diagnosed the problems to a bad fuel injector fouling out the spark plug #4 cylinder recommending to replace all 4 fuel injectors and spark plugs, my transmission has no dipstick, OE Factory Maintenance due and is required, tires were getting weather cracked and recommending tires soon, technician noted that the car had some oil leaks and needed to be diagnosed further, cabin air filter missing and need to install a new filter; recommend cabin filter replacement service: includes anti-bacterial duct service, Tune Up Items: Fuel induction service recommending tune up labor 3-part fuel induction system service to where tune up is due/overdue by mileage if not already done so, Engine Oil was Over Filled Dark/Contaminated with Fuel in Oil and recommended oil change after changing Fuel Injectors and Plugs (BUT, I had my oil changed about a week before all of this occurred), Air Filter: OE Maintenance Interval Dirty and recommended installing new engine air filter, Brake Fluid: OEM recommended service interval/Brake Fluid Exchange service recommended due by mileage if not already done so. I purchased this vehicle December 10, 2022 and then this all occurred after just 4 month of purchasing this vehicle. It took 3 weeks to fix this vehicle. I had this fixed and still I have to wonder how safe is it really? I'm concerned so much so that I plan on taking this vehicle to a Kia Dealership appointment tomorrow June 17, 2023 to have a Multi-Point Inspection.

Filed Jun 9, 2023 · Engine · CO

While my wife was returning home from dinner one evening approximately 6PM in the evening, she was traveling about 35MPH when all of a sudden she heard a soft "POP" sound and the engine died. She had to coast to the side of the road to get out of traffic. There was no warning, no lights on the dash, nothing. Just a soft pop sound & that was it. The engine would not start so we had it towed to our mechanic. Before we did anything else, we called KIA. Apparently as the car was just over 100,000 miles they were not interested in all in what we had to say, but we could tow the vehicle to them to pay diagnostics to see what the problem was. We were told this by 3 dealerships. We had an independent mechanic look into this for us & found out that the oil was empty & that seized the engine. No warning lights on the dash, nothing. We tried to tell KIA this & they basically said in not so many words; "too bad, so sad". Apparently this is a widely known issue with the 2014 Kia Soul 2.0 engine which Kia has chosen to do nothing about. We can not afford the $10K in repair cost and now are without a car, that if there was any type of warning, this would not have happened to. It is a perfect condition car with no engine that is just sitting as we are getting no help from KIA.

Filed Feb 7, 2022 · Engine · NY

Driving car at normal speed suddenly car would not accelerate. had severe loss of bower with no warning. engine stalled and would not start. towed to mechanic and was told engine needed to be replaced.

Filed Oct 20, 2021 · Engine · IN

Engine making knocking noise, car turns off while driving, it won't start sometimes, hard hesitates when gears change, I'm mostly concerned about it turning off while driving in a high way it happened three times already to me!

Filed Aug 19, 2021 · Engine · MA

Kia engine seized while driving. Check engine and check oil lights both flashed immediately before car engine failed. Car would not turn over but battery was still fully functional. It was immediately brought to a local repair shop where oil was cleared as a non factor in engine problems. I was also informed that the engine was completely seized and non operational. I contacted Kia Pride regarding engine issue and was informed that an inspection would need to be completed and would take 5-6weeks as they are having company wide issues with Kia engines.

Filed Jun 25, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · CA

The vehicle had a strange smell ever since we got it a few years back. Earlier in the month, the headlight and dashlight would flicker with the turn signal. We looked it up and set up an apppointment with a local Kia dealership for recall on this issue. Then this week, the engine suddenly quit while the car was parked. The vehicle wouldn't start at all. Kia was notified and they said that there was another recall on engine SC200 on this vehicle that was just announced earlier this year. Online lookup also revealed that the smell issue can be from burning oil or a leak into catalytic converter. Other Kia cars from the same years have also said to have had these issues. Then an OBD II check showed the codes 7E8 and 7E9 which has been noted online by other customers as engine problem recall for which Kia has replaced their engine free of charge.

Filed Apr 20, 2021 · Engine · 76,000 miles · NV

While I was driving my car from las vegas, nv to hemet, ca after exiting the freeway I pulled up to a stop sign. I stopped, then proceeded to put my manual vehicle into 1st gear took off, switched to second, no problem, then third and then my car turned off on it's own and I could not get it to restart. It has been non operable since december 24, 2020. There were no check engine lights or anything else, it just stopped running while I was driving and won't start again

Filed Nov 11, 2020 · Engine · 113,000 miles · KS

My fiance and I were driving we pulled onto the busy highway in joplin missouri the car just stalled out and died out of nowhere..no check engine lights no warnings just died would not start back up my fiance finally got it to start back up it made it two miles then stalled again in the middle of a busy intersection!! I had my two girls with me it was pouring rain we had to push the vehicle to safety!! Stuck with tow fees shop fees now only to find out a week after this happened that a recall has been put out for the same thing that happened to us!! We called kia immediately they refuse to do anything and want us to pay again to have the vehicle towed to the nearest dealership so their mechanic can install a software then diagnose it themselves!! Damage already done and theyre not going to do anything about their screw up!! They should be sued!

Filed Jul 1, 2020 · Engine · 95,186 miles · OH

Driving the car at 50mph on a roawday on 5-25-2020 and the car made a horrible engine noise, slowed and would not start. It was towed to kia of streetsboro who found the engine failed at 95183 miles. We changed oil constantly at 3-4000 miles and are original owners. Never had a check engine light illuminate. Only issue ever was a warranty claim on a starter that failed. Kia found metal in the oil pan and verified our concerns, installing a remanufactured engine. Approximately 100 miles later, the car stalled at 35 MPH and died, the check engine light flashed and we had it towed to waikem kia. They diagnosed a $1500.00 catalytic converter failure indicating a high amount of carbon build up causing failure. Contacted kia who refuses to accept any cuplability for the cat failure. That's two times where a crash could have happened due to failure of the vehicle on the roadway.

Filed Jun 26, 2020 · Engine · 76,999 miles · CA

While driving a 2014 kia soul on the freeway, the engine started to make a sudden and loud popping sound. When exiting the freeway, the vehicle locked up and stalled. It would not start back up. I purchased the vehicle from kia with 27k miles on it. It only has 76k miles on it now. I had it towed to the local kia dealer who diagnosed it as a spun bearing or engine failure. No obvious signs of damage and no leaks. No check engine lights or any other issues prior to engine failure and the oil was just changed within the last month. No stored engine codes or faults.

Filed May 31, 2020 · Electrical · 107,000 miles · MI

My car just doesnt start or will turn off while I'm driving. Leaving me stranded away from home or on the side of the road. I do all maintenance on car. I dont drive more than 20 miles from my home once or twice a week to get supplies for my home. I live in the country and have to drive into town to shop. My car has become so unreliable and unsafe. I've had it looked at by 2 people, the dealership had it told me it was fine. The car is dangerous and no one can find a problem. It will start to turn over but feels like no gas is getting to engine. Sometimes it wont turn over at all. And when I'm driving it will lose power all together and just die while driving. I have read numerous reviews online of the same incident happening to people. So I know this is happening, please help.